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ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS 


-/^'^^ 


^  i^i 


BEFORR   THE 


.,   AMERICAN    INSTITUTE    | 

I 

OP  THE  CITY  OF  NEW-YORK, 


BROADWAY  TABERNACLE,  OCTOBER  20,  1842, 


DC  RING   TIIK 


ififteentl)  Annual  ifair, 


Hon.    H.   G.   O.   COLBY, 

OP  NEW-BEDFORD,  MASS. 


NEW-YORK 


JAMES  VAN  NORDEN  &  CO.,  PRINTERS, 
No.  GO  William-street. 

1843. 


UCSB    LIBRARY 

ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS 


BEFO.HE  THE 


AMERICAN    INSTITUTE 


OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW-YORK, 


BROADWAY  TABERNACLE,  OCTOBER  20,  1842, 


DCRINO  THE 


liftccntl)  Annual  lair. 


Hoi».   H.  G.  O.  COLBY, 

OP  NEW-BEnrORD,  MASS. 


NEW-YORK  : 


JAMES  VAN  NORDEN  &  CO.,  PRINTERS, 
No.  60  William-street. 

1843. 


The  followin,^  letter  AVas  received  in  reply  to  a  request  made  to  Mr.  Colby  for  a  copy 
of  his  Address,  delivered  at  the  Fifteenth  Annual  Fair,  for  publication  : 


New-Bedford,  October  '28th,  1842. 
Dear  Sir, — 

In  compliance  with  your  request;  I  place  at  your  disposal  the  Address  delivered  by 
me  at  your  recent  Anniversary.  If  its  circulation  shall  tend  to  promote  the  great  and 
patriotic  object  in  which  the  American  Institute  is  engaged,  it  will  afford  me  even  more 
gratification,  tiian  the-  flattering  manner  in  which  the  audience  received,  and  the  kind 
tierms  in  which  you  speak  of  so  imperfect  a  performance. 

With  the  highest  respect, 

I  am  your  very  obedient  servant, 

»  H.  G.  O.  COLBY. 

T.  B.  Wakeman,  Esq., 

Cor.  Secretary  American  Institute. 


ADDRESS. 


Mn.  President,  and  Gentlemen  op  the  American  Institute^ 

In  that  renowned  peninsula,  which  Lord  Byron  so  justly  and  beaa- 
tifuily  apostrophised  as  the"  hind  of  lost  godsandgod-Hkernen,"on  the 
blinks  of  the  Alpheus,  and  in  view  of  the  sea,  at  the  return  of  every 
fifty-second  monlh  a  festival  was  celebrated,  to  the  influence  of  which 
ail  philosophers  and  historians  have  agreed  in  ascribing  the  commence- 
ment and  rapid  progress  of  Greece  in  civilization  and  refinement. 
It  is  certain  that  the  Olympic  games  reach  far  back  into  the  dubious 
light  of  her  early  history,  where  fact  and  fancy  hold  a  disputed  empire; 
that  they  continued  for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  and  at  last  threw 
a  sad  and  broken  splendour  over  the  twilight  of  her  waning  glories. 
They  were  adapted  to  the  character  and  pursuits  of  an  early  and 
imperfectly  civilized  age,  in  all  their  forms  of  observance;  ami  the 
undying  attachment  which  the  people  entertained  for  them,  tells  us 
how  deeply  the  love  of  such  festivals  is  implanted  in  the  nature  of 
man.  The  institution,  whose  anniversary  you  have  assembled  here  to 
commemorate,  is  founded  indeed  upon  the  same  unchanged  human 
nature,  but  it  tells,  in  its  mode  of  observance,  the  whole  story  of  the 
wondrous  changes  and  improvements  that  time  has  effected  in  the 
condition,  the  tastes,  and  the  pursuits  of  mankind.  And  if  the  cele- 
bration of  games  at  Olympia,  at  long  intervals,  exerted  such  an  in- 
fluential control  upon  the  character  and  fortunes  of  a  single  ancient 
state,  what  results  may  we  not  expect  from  an  institution,  assembling 
yearly,  in  the  comm.ercial  capitol  of  many  mighty  states,  which  draws 
together  its  citizens  from  its  utmost  boniers,  not  to  display  their  flcct- 
ness  of  foot  or  strength  of  limb,  or  to  behold  their  display  by  others, 
but  to  witness  the  varied  results  of  industry,  from  the  workshop  and 
the  field, — the  improvements  which  the  year  has  eflfected  in  the  me- 
chanic arts, — to  awake  an  energetic  spirit  of  emulation,  to  speed  the 
progress  of  their  country  in  prosperity,  and  win  an  honourable  fame 
by  elFecting  some  substantial  and  lasting  good  for  their  race.  Nothing 
can  ever  adequately  supply  the  advantages  of  free  personal  intercourse 
in  promoting  fraternal  sentiments,  nor  the  exhibition  of  models  and 
products,  and  oral  explanation,  in  the  mechanic  arts  and  in  agricul- 
ture— in  diflfusing  useful  information  or  in  stimulating  industry.  The 
benefits  of  such  festive  assemblies  have  not  perished  with  the  statues 


and  altars  of  Olympia ;  and  to  you,  therefore,  O!  people  of  Elis,  who 
founded  this  io-stiiuiitm,  and  lo  whose  guardianship  the  preparations 
for  its  annual  observance  are  committed,  may  the  people  of  this  coun- 
try be  ever  ready  to  pay  the  debt  of  gratitude  they  owe  you  !  May 
your  territory  be  sacred  lo  the  arts  of  peace,  and  your  people  long 
enjoy  the  rewards  of  their  pubHc  spirit  and  generous  hospitality  ! 

On  an  occasion  of  such  general  interest  and  expectation,  an  older 
and  abler  man  tiian  myself  might  well  distrust  his  ability  to  do  it 
justice.  And  when  I  remember  that  my  predecessors  in  this  office 
have  been  the  most  distinguished  men  of  our  country,  and  that  the 
speaker  is  regarded  as  of  more  importance  than  the  speech,  1  feel  that 
I  nuist  ask  your  utmost  indulgence.  The)'  have  not  only  set  up  a  stand- 
ard of  eloquence  which  few  can  reach,  and  none  can  hope  to  pass,  but 
they  have  selected  and  exhausted  the  most  pertinent  and  interesting 
tf)pics  of  discourse,  and  left  to  those  who  follow  them  the  alternative 
of  treading,  hand  passibus  cBquis,  in  their  footsteps,  or  entering  upon 
some  less  inviting  field  of  inquiry.  To  what  subject,  then,  shall  I  invite 
your  attention  for  the  hour  that  we  are  to  pass  together?  I  stand  in 
the  midst  of  a  city,  distinguished  for  its  accumulated  wealth,  which 
meets  the  eye  in  every  direction  and  in  every  form  ;  in  its  streets,  and 
the  palaces  that  adorn  them— -in  the  princely  mansions  that  look  down 
from  every  height,  or  lift  their  turrets  in  every  grove — in  warehouses, 
bursting  with  merchandise,  and  in  a  forest  of  masts  that  throng  your 
shores.  And  I  have  seen,  too,  the  products  of  human  labour,  in  end- 
less variety,  from  every  section  of  the  Union — from  the  machine  that 
unwinds  the  delicate  thread  of  the  silk-worm,  to  the  gigantic  enginery 
that  tosses  the  planked  and  iron-spiked  ship  like  a  plaything  into  the  air ; 
and  before  me  now  the  representatives  of  each  class  coming  up,  with 
religious  solemnities,  and  with  music  and  song,  to  celebrate  the  Fif- 
teenth Anniversary  of  their  union.  I  invite  you  to  consider,  then, 
wealth  and  labour,  and  the  relations  between  them. 

And  this  subject,  atall  times  one  of  grave  and  commanding  import- 
ance, is  especially  so  at  this  time,  and  in  this  country,  where  errors 
the  most  pernicious  in  relation  to  it  very  extensively  prevail.  Many 
of  our  people  have  derived  their  ideas  of  the  wealthy  and  the  labouring 
classes,  not  from  a  fair  and  enlarged  view  of  their  condition  in  this 
country,  but  from  what  they  have  read  and  heard  of  them  in  the  old 
world,  and  in  other  times.  The  study  of  history,  to  which  we  are 
much  addicted,  is  calculated  to  engender  false  ideas  and  strong  preju- 
dices  upon  this  subject;  and  they  are  not  a  little  strengthened  by  all 
the  novels,  which  have  so  far  taken  a  historical  turn,  that  they  profess 
to  give  a  faithful  delineation  of  men  and  manners.  There  is  a  pas- 
sionate fondness,  also,  for  books  of  travels,  and  probably  they  have 
done  much  to  deepen  and  refresh  these  false  opinions;  and.  in  short, 
many  good  men  amongst  us  have  framed  their  principles  of  conduct 
in  reference  to  the  facts  which  they  have  thus  learned. 

And  yet  the  difference  between  the  condition  and  relation  of  the 
two  classes  here  and  in  the  old  world  is  as  wide  as  the  ocean  that 
separates  us;   but  marked  and  palpable  as  it  is,  it  is  very  generally 


disregarded.  Public  attention  has,  indeed,  been  strongly  directed  of 
late  to  the  wages  of  labour  in  this  and  in  other  countries  ;  and  the 
vastly  superior  condition  of  ihe  American  labourer  has  been  clearly 
demonstrated  ;  but  the  causes  and  the  consequences  of  this  difference, 
and  the  duties  resulting  from  it,  were  secondary  objects,  and  were, 
therefore,  but  slightly  considered.  In  order  that  we  may  understand 
their  true  condition  here,  and  thus  correct  our  prejudices,  if  need  be, 
and  adopt  correct  principles  of  thought  and  action,  let  us  briefly  inquire 
into  the  condition  of  the  two  classes  in  some  of  the  European  com- 
munities. Let  us  examine  things  abroad,  that  we  may  obtain  a 
clearer  view  of  things  at  home. 

It  is  obvious  to  remaik,  in  the  outset,  that  in  almost  every  country, 
and  in  every  age,  though  there  were  diversities  of  operations,  there 
was  the  same  spirit.  The  story  of  the  rich  and  the  poor  has  always 
been,  like  the  dreams  of  Pharaoh,  different  in  form,  but  in  result  the 
same.  It  is  a  story  written  on  every  page  of  human  history  in  fire 
and  blood,  with  unvarying  distinctness  and  mournfulness.  On  the  one 
side,  there  has  been  oppression,  profligacy  and  crime  ;  on  the  other, 
submission,  vassalage  and  want.  On  the  one  side,  privileges  ;  on  the 
other,  exclusion  from  all  privileges.  On  the  one  side,  a  long  cata- 
logue of  rights  ;  on  the  otl)er,  a  longer  catalogue  of  wrongs.  And 
this  is  a  short  history  of  half  the  ancient  and  modern  states  of  the  old 
world. 

In  Republican  Rome,  the  people  were  divided  from  the  first  into 
two  classes,  the  patricians  and  plebeiar)s;  and  it  was  not  till  Marius 
rose,  with  his  matchless  daring  and  intrepid  courage,  to  vindicate  the 
rights  of  the  people,  that  a  consul  could  be  chosen  without  the  ranks 
of  the  aristocracy.  But  as  long  as  their  government  endured,  through- 
out its  vast  extent  it  was  one  of  iron  rigour  towards  the  labouring 
classes.  Nor  was  it  peculiar  to  the  Roman  Empire.  In  Hindostan,  for 
ages  past,  and  down  to  the  present  hour,  the  system  has  existed,  and 
still  exists,  in  iis  worst  conceivable  form  ;  and  it  is  one  of  the  darkest 
mysteries  of  our  nature,  that  a  system  so  fraught  with  injustice  and 
mischief  could  ever  have  been  established  amongst  mankind — that 
a  mere  institution  of  man's  device  should  be  able  to  counteract  the 
impulses  of  nature,  and  bring  the  ardent  longings,  the  vehement  aspi- 
rations of  man  into  such  circumscription  and  confinement,  "  that  it 
would  be  intolerable  even  to  a  mill  horse." 

The  downfall  and  dismemberment  of  the  Roman  Empire  were  fol- 
lowed by  the  establishment  of  other  forms  of  government,  under  other 
names,  but  marked  by  the  continuance  of  the  same  unnatural  distinc- 
tion between  the  rich  and  the  poor.  The  feudal  system,  a  complex 
and  iron  system  of  exaction  and  vassalage,  was  established  every 
where  by  fire  and  sword,  and  became  so  strongly  fastened  upon  every 
people,  where  it  prevailed,  that  it  has  continued  up  to  this  time  to 
shape  and  govern  their  customs,  their  laws,  and  their  institutions. 
The  sole  aim  and  end  of  the  system  was  to  establish  a  privileged 
order,  amongst  whom  rich  and  magnificent  domains  were  partitioned, 
and  the  inferior  classes  became  their  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of 
water. 


In  no  country  in  Europe  were  the  effects  of  this  system  more  mani- 
fest and  disastrous  than  in  France.  The  distinction  between  patrician 
and  plebeian,  between  noble  and  base-born,  was  early  established,  and, 
unhappily,  this  privilege  descended  to  all  the  children,  instead  of  being 
confined,  as  in  England,  to  the  eldest  son.  The  consequence  was,  a 
numerous  nobility,  a  complete  separation  of  the  higher  and  lower 
orders,  and  the  establishment  of  a  wall  of  partition,  which  neither 
talent,  energy  or  success  was  able  to  pass.  The  greater  portion  of 
the  land  of  the  kingdom  was  in  their  hands  ;  and  instead  of  wondering, 
as  we  do,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  French  Revolution,  and  the  atro- 
cities which  marked  its  progress,  it  is  rather  to  be  marvelled  at  that 
it  was  so  long  delayed.  It  was  nothing  more  than  human  nature 
asserting  its  long  lost  rights,  tortured  humanity  taking  its  revenge — the 
upheaving,  from  its  lowest  depths,  of  that  mighty,  uncounted  mass  of 
men,  whose  hearts  had  been  ulcerated  by  ages  of  oppression.  Amidst 
blazing  chateaux,  France  rung  with  the  terrible  gailiering  cry,  "  War 
to  the  palace,  and  peace  to  the  cottage,"  a  cry  which  will  sooner  or 
later  be  sounded  in  every  nation  and  kingdom  where  such  an  aristo- 
cracy can  be  found.  The  nobles  of  France  received  a  solemn  warn- 
ing and  fearful  foretaste  of  the  calamities  that  awaited  them,  in  the 
war  of  the  Jacquerie.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  excuse  or  palliate  the 
excesses  of  the  French  Revolution  ;  but  that  terrible  tragedy  was 
acted  in  vain  in  the  sight  of  heaven,  if  men  will  not  learn  the  lessons 
which  it  teaches  :  that  it  was  nothing  but  man,  broke  loose  from  op- 
pression, coming  forth  from  den,  cavern  and  hovel,  the  memory  of  a 
thousand  wrongs  gathering  around  the  terror  of  his  heart,  and,  as  the 
oppressor  fell  beneath  his  stride,  lifting  up  the  exulting  shout  of  long 
baffled,  long  delayed,  but  never  dying  revenge. 

In  Russia  there  are  but  two  classes,  the  noble  and  the  serf,  who  is 
bought  and  sold  with  the  land.  And  in  Poland  the  condition  of  the 
peasantry  is  still  worse.  A  traveller  remarks,  that  he  never  saw  a 
wheaten  loaf  in  any  part  of  North  Germany.  In  Austria  the  nobles 
are  proprietors  of  the  soil,  and  the  peasants  are  compellable  to  work 
every  day  for  their  masters,  except  Sunday.  In  Hungary  the  nobles 
own  the  land,  and  do  no  work,  and  pay  no  taxes  ;  the  labouring  classes 
are  compelled  to  repair  all  the  bridges  and  highways,  and  to  pay  one 
tenth  of  the  products  of  their  labour  to  the  church  and  one  ninth  to 
the  landlord.  There  are  still  reckoned,  at  the  present  day,  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  nobles  in  the  ancient  provinces  of  Podolia 
and  Volhynia;  and  almost  the  entire  territory  of  these  countries  is 
concentrated  in  tlie  hands  of  not  more  than  fifty  families.  This  single 
fact  is  quite  sufficient  to  tell  us  all  we  desire  to  know  respecting  the 
condition  of  the  inferior  orders. 

Prussia  has  been  long  regarded  as  the  model  state  in  Europe,  and 
her  powerful  and  prosperous  condition  is  owing  chiefly  to  the  wise 
and  judicious  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  her  laws  respecting 
the  working  classes.  Previous  to  the  year  1800,  the  condition  of  the 
peasantry  was  that  of  villeinage,  with  few  exceptions.  They  were 
attached  to  the  property  of  their  lords,  obliged  to  give  him  their  ser- 


vices,  without  compensation,  and  incapable  of  holding  property.  They 
could  notchange  their  place  of  residence;  their  children  could  not  enter 
into  other  pursuits,  nor  their  daughters  marry,  without  the  consent  of 
their  superior,  and  none  but  a  noble  could  purchase  the  estate  of  a 
noble.  In  addition  to  all  this,  the  land  of  the  nobles  was  exempt  from 
taxation. 

If  this  policy  had  been  continued  to  this  day,  Prussia  could  not 
have  attained  her  present  prosperity,  power  and  eminence.  It  was 
prostrated,  not  as  in  most  other  states,  by  the  revolt  of  the  people  and 
a  bloody  revolution,  but  by  the  wise  and  judicious  reform  of  one  of 
the  boldest,  ablest  and  most  sagacious  statesmen  that  ever  sat  in  a 
European  cabinet.*  By  the  laws  of  180G  and  1807,  which  he  pro- 
posed, the  sale  and  purchase  of  land  was  thrown  open  to  all  alike,  the 
relation  of  villeinage  was  abolished  for  ever,  and  the  nobles  were  com- 
pelled to  contribute,  like  all  other  citizens,  to  the  public  burthens,  in 
proportion  to  their  means.  Not  content  with  the  mere  removal  of 
restrictions,  the  government  endeavoured  to  stimulate  industry  and 
arouse  ambition,  by  prizes,  and  public  exhibitions  of  manufactures  of 
all  kinds,  which  have  produced  the  most  striking  and  beneficial  effects. 
Would  to  God  that  the  Metlernich's  of  Europe  had  the  courage  and 
the  foresight  of  Stein  and  Hardenburg !  or  that  any  thing  could  induce 
them  to  follow  their  illustrious  example.  Opposed  to  every  species  of 
reform,  progress  and  improvement,  by  their  resistless  influence  "all 
things  continued  as  they  were."  They  are  the  potent  magicians  of  a 
darker  age,  whose  spells  arrested  every  living  thing,  and  fixed  it  in 
marble  stillness.  The  latter  have  come  into  the  world,  and  pronoun- 
cing one  magic  word,  and  a  million  of  gigantic  statues  have  sprung 
into  life  and  activity,  and  thus  a  nation  has  been  born  in  a  day. 

Allow  me  to  close  this  series  of  illustrations  by  a  reference  tO'that 
country,  with  which  our  acquaintance  is  most  intimate,  and  whose  in- 
stitutions we  best  understand — our  Father-land.  Of  all  lands,  it  pre- 
sents the  most  striking  spectacle  of  tlie  unequal  distribution  of  property. 
This  inequality  owes  its  origin  to  the  feudal  system,  but  its  perpetua- 
tion and  continuance,  to  her  present  legislation  and  policy.  The  ex- 
tremes of  wealth  and  of  poverty  are  to  be  found  in  England  in  the 
most  appalling  contrast.  We  see,  on  the  one  hand,  an  hereditary 
nobility — the  law  of  primogeniture,  by  which  the  eldest  son  succeeds 
to  the  titles  and  estates  of  his  ancestors — the  law  of  entail,  by  means  of 
which  vast  estates  are  locked  up  and  perpetuated  in  the  hands  of  a 
single  individual  from  generation  to  generation,  and  from  age  to  age. 
Only  one  sixth  of  the  population  of  England  are  proprietors  of  the  soil, 
and  to  the  rights  and  interests  of  these  proprietors  every  thing  bends 
and  gives  way,  as  we  may  see  in  their  corn  laws  ;  or  to  slate  the  fact 
more  accurately,  and  in  the  words  of  Alison,  the  whole  proprietors, 
who  live  on  the  fruits  of  the  soil  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  at  this 
moment,  probably  do  not  amount  to  300,000,  while  above  three  millioa 

*  Steia. 


heads  of  families,  and  fifteen  millions  of  persons,  dependent  on  their 
labour,  subsist  on  the  wages  they  receive.  Another  writer  remarks 
that,  "in  the  road  whiclj  the  English  labourer  must  travel,  the  poor- 
house  is  the  last  sta<Te  on  his  way  to  the  grave."  To  this  I  add  the 
startling  fact  that  the  annual  income  of  some  noblemen  amounts  to  at 
least  8^00,000.  This  terrible  system  is  sustained  by  the  potent  au- 
thority of  law,  by  a  close  confederacy  of  those  who  are  alone  benefited 
by  its  preservation,  and  by  the  whole  influence  of  a  strong  government. 
Should  we  feel  a  single  emotion  of  surprise,  therefore,  when  we  hear 
of  riots,  mobs,  burnings,  tumults,  disturbances  in  this  rich  and  fertile 
island  ?  The  few  cannot  be  thus  exalted,  and  privileged,  and  protected, 
but  at  the  expense  of  the  many,  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that 
they  should,  in  mere  desperation,  display  their  disquietude  in  acts  of 
violence.  As  an  illustration  of  the  rigid  tenacity  with  which  they  cling 
to  the  most  odious  laws,  if  they  have  the  charm  of  antiquity,  it  may  be 
mentioned,  that  it  was  long  the  law  of  England,  that  the  land  of  a  per- 
son dying  could  not  be  taken  from  his  heir  to  pay  his  simple  contjact 
debts,  and  that  the  persevering  efforts  of  Sir  Samuel  Romilly  to  alter 
the  law  in  this  respect,  were  defeated  again  and  again  in  the  House 
of  Lords.  And  the  measure  was  carried  at  last  only  by  an  adroit  legis- 
lative ruse  de  guerre  ;  by  a  bill  subjecting  the  lands  of  tradesmen  to  be 
thus  taken,  which  passed  without  objection,  and  it  was  afterwards 
extended  to  other  persons. 

Such  is  a  brief  sketch  of  the  condition  of  the  two  great  classes  into 
which  society  is  divided,  in  some  of  the  principal  countries  of  the  old 
world.  It  requires  but  a  slight  knowledge  of  human  nature  to  assure 
us,  that  there  neither  is  nor  can  be  any  general  sympathy  between 
them.  And  when  I  assert  that  "  the  former  history  of  the  world  is 
chiefly  occupied  with  the  struggles  of  freedom  against  bondage,  the 
efforts  of  laborious  industry  to  emancipate  itself  from  the  yoke  of 
aristocratic  power,"  I  employ  only  the  language  of  the  most  enlighten- 
ed and  philosophic  historian  of  the  present  day,  Alison.  What  are 
the  glittering  pages  of  Livy,  for  the  most  part,  but  vivid  records  of  the 
bitter  feuds  between  the  patricians  and  plebeians — of  tumults,  insur- 
rections, secessions,  so  violent  that  they  were  only  appeased,  at  limes, 
by  the  fact  that  the  enemy  were  assaulting  their  gates? 

Every  country  in  Europe  has  been  witness  to  frequent  popular 
outbreaks,  because  of  intolerable  oppressions.  France  saw  what 
desperate  men  would  do  in  the  war  of  the  Jacquerie,  and  she  felt,  at 
a  later  day,  that  mighty  wrongs  were  revenged  by  mighty  crimes. 
In  England,  the  much  ridiculed  insurrection  of  Wat  Tyler  ;  in  Ger- 
many, the  war  of  the  peasantry  under  the  gallant  Philip  Van  Arta- 
velte ;  in  Spain,  that  of  the  Communeros,  were  only  the  legitimate 
results  of  an  unnatural  policy.  Wherever  such  monstrous  inequali- 
ties are  created  and  fostered  by  law,  there  must  in  the  nature  of  things 
be  a  deep-seated,  irreconcilable  hostility  between  the  privileged  and 
the  unprivileged  classes.  It  may  be  smothered,  for  a  time,  like  vol- 
canic fires — it  may  be  kept  down  by  the  tremendous  machinery  of 
courts  and  jails,  by  armies  of  police  officers  and  regiments  of  horse- 


guards — but  the  feeling  exists,  and  will  speak  out  with  startling  dis- 
tinctness, whenever  and  wherever  it  finds  opportnnit)'.  Imagine  to 
yourselves  an  obscure  artisan,  who  casts  a  stolen  glance  upon  his 
starving  wife  and  children,  as  he  goes  abroad  to  seek  work — "the 
most  pitiable  spectacle  under  the  sun" — meeting,  on  his  way,  the  coro- 
netted  chariot  of  some  hereditary  noble,  and  his  train  attendant, 
distinguished  for  nothing  but  his  wealth,  his  extravagance,  and  his  vice. 
He  is  gaunt  with  famine,  his  sinews  are  hardened  by  toil  and  expo- 
sure, his  heart  is  seared  by  suffering,  he  feels  that  he  is  doomed  lo  a 
whole  eternity  of  bondage,  and  he  mutters  to  himself,  "  His  wealth 
and  my  poverty  are  the  results  of  unjust  laws."  He  is  a  rife  and 
ready  instrument  for  revolution  and  mischief.  And  ten  thousand  such 
men  are  in  the  heart  of  every  European  kingdom, — and  their  cease- 
less agitations  are  the  unquiet  heavings  of  the  ocean — the  cry  of  iheii* 
children,  the  wail  of  the  sea-bird^that  foretell  the  coming  storm. 

It  has  given  me  no  pleasure  thus  to  speak  of  the  condition  and 
institutions  of  the  old  world.  Xor  has  it  been  done  in  a  spirit  of 
ostentatious  pride,  to  which,  it  is  said,  we  Americans  are  prone;  but 
for  the  purpose  of  better  understanding  our  own,  by  nrraking  a  just 
comparison  between  them.  But,  as  a  philanthropist,  it  gives  me  no 
pain  to  foresee  or  foretell  the  mighty  changes  that  await  these  ancient 
states,  in  the  upward  progress  of  these  enthralled  millions.  The 
overthrow  of  all  these  cruel  and  unnatural  systems  is  among  the  things 
that  are  predestinated,  and  every  year  is  bringing  nearer  the  hour  of 
its  accomplishment.  Barrier  after  barrier  is  giving  way,  and  those 
massive  castles,  within  which  ancient  privilege  has  entrenched  itself, 
will  yield  at  last  to  never-ceasing  assault,  like  the  doors  of  Reginald 
Front  de  Boeuf  to  the  ponderous  battle-axe  of  the  unknown  knight. 

We  turn  with  joy  from  this  sad  and  dreary  picture  of  human  de-* 
gradation  and  suifering,  to  a  country  in  which  there  is  nothing  anti- 
quated, except  the  trees  of  the  primeval  forest}  and,  in  the  first  place, 
to  the  actual  situation  of  the  wealthy  classes  of  society  in  this  country* 
In  most  cases,  colonists   have  carried  with  them  the  laws,  the  in- 
stitutions, the  usages,  and  the  religion  as  well  as  the  language  of  the 
parent    state  ;   but  our  ancestors  appear  t  >  have  acted  from  first   to 
last  by  the  rule  of  contraries.     It  is  scarcely  possible  to  conceive  a 
stronger  contrast  than  we  present  in  our  form  of  government,  and  in 
all  our  laws  and  feelings,  in  regard  to  wealth,  lo  our  father-land.     It 
is  a  "  counterfeit  presentment  of  two  brothers."    The  earliest  efforts 
of  Mr.  Jeflerson,  in  Virginia,  were  directed  to  the  abolition  of  entails, 
and  the  law  of  primogeniture,  and  there  is  not  now,  I  believe,  a  solitary 
state  in  the  Union  in  which   they  are  permitted  to  exist.     A  writer* 
on  real  property,  who  has  collated  the  laws  of  all  the  states,  remarks, 
"  that  it  is  the  general,  if  not  the  universal  policy  of  the  law,  to  make 
the  whole  of  a  man's  property  liable  for  the  payment  of  all  his  debts, 
both  during  his  life  and  alter  his  death."     They  are  as  uniform,  too, 
in  prohibiting  the  perpetuation  of  property  in  families  by  any  form  of 
instrument-     The  general  rule  is,  that  all  restraints  upon  the  aliena- 
tion of  property,  that  exceed  the  life  of  a  person  living,  and  twenty- 

3 


10 

one  years  after,  are  utterly  void.  After  death,  the  property  which  ar 
man  leaves  is  (irst  appropriated  to  the  payment  of  his  debts,  and  then 
distributed  equally  among  all  his  heirs.*  The  unrighteous  preference 
of  males  over  females,  in  the  distribution  of  any  estate,  which  prevails^ 
elsewhere,  has  shared  with  us  the  fate  of  other  relics  of  barbarism.. 
The  privilege  of  makincc  wills  and  disposing  of  one's  estate  as  he 
pleases,  with  some  restrictions,  still  remains,  and  may  it  ever  remain  ;; 
but  sucli  is  the  influence  of  public  opinion,  and  so  universal  the  diffu- 
sion of  correct  principles  and  feelings  on  this  subject,  that  the  instances 
are  rare  in  which  it  has  been  attempted  to  make  a  grossly  unequal 
distribution.  Here  there  is  no  hereditary  nobility,  no  transmissible 
titles,  no  acknowledged  distinction  of  classes.  The  result  is,  that 
nearly  the  whole  population  is  doomed  to  industry.  The  destiny  of 
the  American  population  is  to  labour;  and  accordingly  I  believe  that, 
with  the  exception  of  that  portion  of  our  country  where  involuntary 
servitude  prevails,  we  are,  as  a  whole,  the  most  industrious  people  to 
be  found  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. 

These  laws  and  customs  have  been  in  existence  among  us  for  more 
than  a  hundred  years,  and  have  exerted  their  legitimate  influence  upon 
the  people.  And  what  have  been  their  effects?  The  result  is,  that 
though  there  have  been  estates  in  the  hands  of  a  single  family  that 
would  make  a  dozen  German  kingdoms,  they  have  nearly  all  dis- 
appeared. Under  such  laws  as  ours,  it  is  almost  impossible  that  a 
fortune  can  remain  in  the  same  family  for  three  generations:  it  is 
impossible  that  it  should  remain  of  the  same  magnitude.  So  notorious 
is  the  fact,  that  it  has  passed  into  a  current  proverb.  So  deep,  per- 
vading and  certain  is  the  effect  of  this  system,  that  the  most  enthusi- 
astic champion  of  perfect  equality  has  been  able  to  devise  nothing 
beyond  it,  except  the  wild  project  of  distributing  all  property,  on  the 
death  of  the  owner,  amongst  the  whole  community.  Our  experience 
assures  us,  however,  that  the  most  princely  fortunes  revert  to  the  com 
mon  slock  quite  fast  enough,  without  any  other  contrivances  than.such 
laws  as  I  have  stated,  and  that  great  leveller,  who  comes  sooner  or 
later  to  all  men,  and  places  all  on  a  perfect  equality. 

*  The  effect  produced  by  the  laws  of  succession  which  now  prevail  in  France,  lias  been 
much  controverted  among  European  writers.  There  is  an  able  article  on  that  sul)ject,  by 
Hippolite  Passy,  in  the  Revve  de  Legidalio-ii.  et  deJurispriide7ice,  for  April  and  May, 
1841,  which  has  been  translated  and  pulilished  in  the  American  Jurist  for  October,  1841, 
by  its  learned  and  accomplished  editor,  L.  S.  Gushing,  Esq.  The  view  of  this  interesting 
question  taken  by  this  profound  writer  may  be  seen  f  om  the  following  extract  from  the 
article :  "Nothing  is  better  proved  than  the  principle,  tliat  all  ameliorations  of  the  social 
state  are  due  to  the  inequalities  in  the  distributii^n  of  wealth.  *         *  In  France, 

within  thirty  years,  the  population  has  increased  eight  per  cent.;  but  wealth  has  increased 
more  than  sixteen  per  cent. ;  and  if  the  classes  in  possession  of  the  advantages  of  pro- 
perty have  seen  their  fortunes  augmented,  those  which  subsist  upon  daily  wages  have 
seen  the  stock  which  rewards  their  labours  accumulate  with  more  rapidity  than  the  nnm- 
berof  hands  destined  to  share  in  it.         *         *  When  the  laws  of  succession  in  any 

country  do  not  sanction  any  privilege  of  property;  when  they  leave  to  each  one  the 
liberty  to  go  as  fur  as  his  faculties  will  permit  him  ;  when  they  give  to  the  rights  of  suc- 
cession no  other  limits  than  the  degrees  of  relationship;  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  they  are 
irreproachable,  and  that  the  results  which  they  produce  are,  for  the  time,  at  least,  the  most 
conformable  to-the  tnje  interests  ©fall." 


11 

There  are  instances,  it  is  true,  in  this  country,  of  enormous  indivi- 
<3ual  wealth — frequent  instances  of  independent  individual  fortunes. 
But  who  are  they  that  possess  them,  and  whence  did  they  derive  them  ? 
From  some  old  ancestors,  who  won  broad  lands  and  proud  titles  in 
the  field  of  battle — or  in  the  Senate — at  the  bar — or  the  counting- 
house  ?  If  you  look  for  such  inherited  fortunes  as  these,  you  will 
discover  that  they  were  long  since  dismembered — that  with  every 
revolution  of  the  seasons  they  are  diminishing — and  in  very  few 
instances  can  one  of  their  descendants  call  the  roof-tree  of  his  father's 
house  his  own.  No  !  these  are  the  fruits  of  individual  industry,  skill 
or  enterprise.  And  you  can  seldom  trace  their  history  farther  back 
than  to  Hnd  them  commanding  a  trading  sloop  to  the  West  Indies, 
purchasing  fur  in  small  quantities  on  the  Ironiier,  or  selling  excellent 
groceries  at  a  first-rate  stand  for  business.  They  tire  self-made 
men — the  architects  of  their  own  fortunes:  and  I  yield  a  thousand- 
fold more  respect  to  such  as  they,  than  I  ever  can  feel  for  one  who 
owes  his  wealth  and  his  standing  in  the  world  to  the  mere  accident 
of  birth  ;  and  I  feel,  too,  when  their  names  are  uttered  in  the  marts  of 
commerce,  and  the  country  rings  from  side  to  side  with  the  story  of 
their  success,  that  though  we  have  no  titles  higher  than  that  oi  Captain, 
(which  is  given  to  the  President) — no  stars  save  those  that  glitter  upon 
the  azure  folds  of  our  national  flag,  that  this  is  the  country — not  for 
the  poor  man — not  for  the  rich  man — but  for  a  Man. 

A  very  important  and  striking  feature  in  our  political  and  social 
system,  which  is  indeed  the  inevitable  result  of  our  institutions  and 
laws,  is,  that  there  is  no  aristocracy  amongst  us — not  even  an  aristoc- 
racy of  wealth.  An  aristocracy  cannot  exist  without  peculiar  and 
exclusive  privileges  and  rights,  recognised,  sanctioned  and  upheld  by 
law.  There  cannot  be,  in  this  country,  even  a  confederacy  or  com- 
bination among  the  rich  men  to  acquire  peculiar  privileges.  They 
have  none  to  defend.  There  is  no  clanship,  no  esprit  du  corps 
amongst  them.  They  are  not  like  the  hereditary  nobles  of  Europe, 
whose  names  are  enrolled  in  a  herald's  college,  set  apart  from  the  rest 
of  mankind,  designated  by  titles,  marked  by  badges  of  honour,  bound 
together  by  intermarriages,  by  a  community  of  interests  and  of  feel- 
ings, a  distinct  order  in  the  state.  Nothing  of  all  this  ;  and  they  are  as 
mutable,  besides,  as  the  moats  that  float  in  the  summer  air.  Death 
is  ever  busily  at  work  in  dismembering  all  overgrown  fortunes.  Mis- 
fortunes, too — and,  alas !  they  have  rained  thick  and  fast  during  the 
last  twelve  years — do  their  share  in  the  ceaseless  work  of  diffusion. 
The  rich  man  of  to-day  is  the  poor  man  of  to-morrow.  And  while  from 
these  causes,  multitudes  are  passing  out,  thousands  are,  on  the  other 
hand,  passing  into  this  charmed  circle,  from  those  who  commenced 
life  with  no  inheritance  but  poverty.  If  a  line  could  be  drawn  between 
the  two  classes,  at  any  given  moment,  and  then  five  years  pass  away, 
I  doubt  whether  the  smaller  portion  could  be  recognised  as  the  same. 
Hundreds  on  hundreds  would  be  found  to  have  changed  places.  And 
to  speak  of  a  class  of  men  thus  constituted  as  an  aristocracy,  is  as 
sound  and  sensible  philosophy  as  to  point  to  the  insects  of  summer  as 
emblems  of  eternity. 


12 

The  condition  of  the  labouring  classes  in  the  United  States,  which 
we  are  next  to  consider,  is  universally  admitted  to  be  better  than  in 
any  other  country  in  the  world.     They  are  already  in  that  position 
which  the  labours  of  other  countries  are  struggling  to  attain.     The 
rate  of  wages  is  incomparably  higher  than  in  any  other  country — the 
means  of  comfort,  not  to  say  wealth,  more  easily  accessible,  owing 
to  their  vast  numbers,  and  to  the   possession  of  all  political  rights  ; 
their  influence  in  the  government  is  controlling  and  resistless,  and  all 
legislation  is  shaped  in  reference  to  the  promotion  of  their  interests, 
rather  than  those  of  any  other  class.     Without  having  examined  the 
laws  of  all  the  states,  which  would  be  an  Herculean  task,  1  dare  to 
affirm,  that  not  a  statute  can  be  found  in  force,  in  any  one  of  the  states, 
which  establishes  or  recognises  any  inequality  of  right  or  privilege 
between  them  and  other  persons  ;  or,  if  such  statute  can  be  found,  it  is 
their  fault  that  it  remains  upon  the  statute  book  a  single  year.     They 
iiave  but  to  speak  the  word,  and  it  is  done — to  command,  and  it  is 
repealed.     Nay,   the   universal   sentiment  among  American  states- 
men is,  that  the  legislation   and    policy  of  the  government  should 
be  such  as  to  lend  aid  and  encouragement  to  the  poorer  classes,  and 
leave  the  rich  to  take  care  of  themselves.     They  have  accordingly 
been  extremely  liberal  in   granting  acts  of  incorporation,  by  which 
men  of  small  means  may  combine  and  compete  with  tlie  richest  capi- 
talists in  any  branch  of  industry.     By  the  late  bankrupt  law  of  the 
United  States,  in  case  of  insolvency,  the  wages  of  the  labourer,  up  to 
a  certain  amount,  are  preferred,  and  are  to  be  paid — a  wise  and  hu- 
mane provision,  which  was  borrowed  from  Massachusetts.     With  the 
laws  of  that  state  I  profess  to   have  some  acquaintance,  and,  in  their 
general  bearing  and  character,  I  suppose  them  to  be  similar  to  those 
of  other  states;  and   I  challenge  any  man  to  put  his  finger  upon  a 
statute  there,  that  gives  to  the  man  of  a  million  one  jot  or  tittle  more 
of  right  or  privilege  than  to  the  labourer  that  ploughs  his  field,  or  the 
needy  knife-grinder  that    spins  his  wheel  at  his  door.     What  magic 
words  were  those  which  have  been  for  years  upon  the  lips  of  states- 
men, to  which  the  people  have  responded,  as  deep  calleth  unto  deep? 
Not    the   protection    of  American   wealth,  but   the    "protection  of 
American  industry."     And  what  are  all  the  societies  and  institutes 
that  are  established  in  almost  every  state,  and  sustained   at   great 
expense,  but  tlie  voluntary  efforts  of  the  people  who  can  afford  it,  to 
stimulate  American  industry  ?     This  great  and  splendid   Institution, 
which  I  have  the  honour  to  address,  is  itself  a  noble  practical  illustra- 
tion   of  American    policy.     Here  are  the  "  merchant  princes,"  the 
capitalists,  nay,  the  very  "aristocrats"  of  New-York,  giving  freely  of 
their  lime,  of  their  influence,  of  their  wealth,  not  to  obtain  special 
privileges  for  themselves,  but  to  stimulate  and  encourage  art  and  indus- 
try, and  to  spread  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  Union,  broad 
cast,  those  improvements  in  agriculture  and  the  arts,  which  skill,  thus 
stimulated,  has  made.    There  is  not  a  labouring  man  in  the  most  distant 
pnd  sequestered  nook  of  this  far  spreading  country,  who  is  not  or  may 
pot  be  benefiM  by  it§  patriotic  efforls. 


13 

Yes,  ye  labourers,  there  is  no  land  like  yours.  It  is  yours  to  pos- 
sess, to  enjoy.  Here  is  a  fair  field  for  all  to  labour,  in  whatsoever 
vocation  they  please,  and  the  rewards  of  diligence  are  ample  and 
secure.  Here  is  not  an  avenue  to  wealth  ordislinction  that  is  closed — 
not  a  port  unattainable.  Here  are  boundless  acres  to  be  tilled,  richer 
than  the  valley  of  the  Nile.  Here  are  countless  ships  to  be  manned, 
to  be  repaired,  to  be  built.  Here  are  a  thousand  mechanic  arts  solicit- 
ing the  busy  hand  of  industry.  Here  are  all  the  learned  professions,  as 
open  as  the  highway,  to  all  who  choose  to  enter  them.  And  here,  too, 
is  the  law,  which  places  the  means  of  education  within  reach  of  the 
poorest  and  humblest,  seeming  to  exclaim,  with  an  empress  voice, 
"here  is  a  new  world — it  is  yours;  replenish  the  earth  and  subdue 
it."  And  when  I  see  an  American  youth,  of  whatever  condition,  not 
repining  at  the  accident  of  an  humble  origin,  not  wasting  his  bright 
hours  in  idle  regrets  or  envious  murmurs,  but  fully  awake  to  the 
felicities  of  his  situation,  girding  up  his  loins  to  run  the  race  set  before 
him,  I  behold  in  him  an  image  of  that  bold  and  manly  spirit,  whom 
one  of  our  own  poets  has  painted,  bearing  a  banner  in  his  hand,  upon 
which  was  blazoned  the  proud  and  aspiring  motto  of  this  Empire 
Slate,  so  truly  descriptive  of  her  past  history,  so  prophetic  of  her 
i'uture  destiny. 

"  The  shades  of  night  were  falling  fast, 
As  through  an  Alpine  village  passed 
A  youth,  who  bore,  mid  snow  and  ice, 
A  banner  with  the  strange  device — 
'  Excelsior.' 

"  '  Beware  the  pine  tree's  withered  branch ! 
Beware  the  awful  avalanche!' 
This  was  the  peasant's  last  good  night. 
A  voice  replied,  far  up  the  height — 

'  ExcEt,siOR.'  " 

If  I  have  succeeded  in  presenting  a  correct  view  of  the  condition 
of  wealth  and  labour  amongst  us,  it  will  not  be  a  difficult  task  to 
point  out  their  relations  and  duties.  They  follow  inevitably,  as  con- 
clusions from  the  admitted  premises. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  not  only  no  ground  for  any  hostility  or 
unkindness  of  feeling  between  the  rich  and  the  labouring  classes,  but 
the  strongest  reason,  on  the  contrary,  for  mutual  friendship  and  the 
most  cordial  union.  It  may  well  be  questioned,  whether  they  should 
ever  be  spoken  of  as  classes,  since  the  term  presupposes  a  line  of 
demarcation,  which  cannot  here  be  drawn.  Both  arc  striving  with 
the  same  eagerness  for  the  same  object — some  portion  of  wealth — and 
both  arc  interested  in  the  protection  of  property.  Does  any  man 
believe,  that  by  destroying  the  rich,  or  diminishing  the  securities  of 
property,  he  can  better  his  own  condition  or  that  of  his  children  ? 
Instead  of  this  discordant  outcry,  which  sometimes  salutes  our  cars, 
"down  with  the  aristocracy,"  "the  rich  are  leagued  against  the 
poor,"  let  us  expend  our  sympathies  upon  the  millions  of  other  lands, 
who  are  groaning  beneath  the  weight  of  an  iron  bondage — our  indigo 
nation  upon  those  who  maintain  it  in  its  iron  rigour  ;  but  let  us  re? 


14 

joice  that  here  we  may  all  unite,  and  that  the  cause  of  industry  is  the 
cause  of  the  whole  people.  This  cry  may  do  well  enough  in  the 
kraals  of  Ireland  and  in  the  depths  of  Hungary,  but  it  should  have  no 
place  in  the  American  vocabulary. 

The  fact  cannot  be  disguised,  however,  that  a  feeling  of  prejudice 
and  hostility  does  exist  between  the  wealthy  and  the  labouring  classes, 
even  in  this  country.  It  arises  in  part  from  the  indulgence  of  envy 
ngainst  the  successful,  from  that  sourness  of  spirit  which  is  engen- 
dered by  misfortune,  from  not  making  the  distinction  between  this 
and  other  countries;  but  it  has  been  extended  and  aggravated  chiefly 
by  that  worst  pest  of  human  society,  the  demagogue.  Fully  per- 
suaded in  his  own  mind  of  the  truth  of  Hooker's  celebrated  remark, 
that  "he  who  goes  about  persuading  men  that  they  are  not  so  well 
governed  as  they  ought  to  be,  will  never  want  adherents,"  he  ap- 
peals, with  practised  skill,  to  these  inflammable  passions,  and  becomes 
for  a  time  the  champion  of  popular  rights — the  favourite  of  the  multi- 
tude. He  recounts  the  oppressions  which  aristocrats  have  practised 
upon  the  poor  in  every  age,  and  easily  persuades  them,  that  the  rich 
men  of  this  country,  who  rose  to  wealth  but  yesterday,  and  whose 
children  will  return  to  labour  at  his  death,  are  heir  legitimate  success- 
ors, and  have  their  principles  and  feelings.  Inequality  of  fortune  is  pro- 
duced by  ten  thousand  causes,  over  which  man  has  no  control ;  it  has 
always  existed,  and  will  always  exist,  until  the  laws  of  nature  are  changed, 
"The  poor  we  have  always  with  us,"  and  all  that  human  institutions 
can  do  for  man,  is  to  give  free  play  and  ample  encouragement  to 
human  industry,  by  protecting  its  acquisitions. 

U  the  people  of  this  country,  who  have  been  deluded  and  often 
betrayed  by  the  charming  catch-word,  would  look  to  the  quarter 
whence  it  issues,  with  their  native  keenness,  they  would  estimate  it  at 
its  true  worth.  Does  it  come  from  the  hard  working,  the  industrious, 
the  thrifty  sons  of  toil,  who  have  had  bitter  experience  of  some  prac- 
tical evils — who  have  been  borne  down  by  cruel  laws?  Never  I  It 
issues  from  those  patriotic  spirits,  whose  real  grievance  consists  in 
this,  that  they  cannot  live  without  work  quite  so  splendidly  as  men 
who  do  work ;  who  declaim,  in  bar-rooms  and  grog  shops,  with  sur- 
passing eloquence,  upon  equal  rights,  when  the  only  species  of  equality 
they  desire  is,  that  the  loafer  shall  share  the  wages  of  the  labourer. 
Let  them  put  their  hands  and  heads  to  the  same  exacting  labours — let 
them  pursue  the  same  career  of  tireless  industry  and  rigid  self-denial,  day 
after  day  and  year  after  year,  which  they  have,  whom  they  traduce  and 
vilify — and  if  they  then  fail  of  success,  and  can  point  to  any  thing  but 
inevitable  misfortune  as  the  cause  of  their  failure,  let  them  sound  the 
trumpet,  and  armed  men  will  spring  up  from  the  earth  to  aid  them. 
I  know  that  misfortune  and  disappointment  are  the  common  lot  of 
man :  that  the  language  of  Burns  may  be  addressed  to  every  child  of 
mortality  : 

"  For  care  and  trouble  set  your  thought, 

Even  when  your  end's  attained  ; 
And  a'  your  plans  may  come  to  nought, 

V'hcre  every  neire  is  strained," 


15 

But  Tknow,  too,  that  our  holy  religion  tenches  us  not  to  vilify  and  envy 
those  who  have  escaped  them,  hut  to  bear  them  with  manly  fortitude/ 
If  the  condition  of  Amcricnn  labour  be  such  as  I  have  represented, 
and  thoy  are  acting,  nevertheless,  upon  the  belief  that  there  must  be 
perpetual  hoslililies  between  the  rich  and  themselves,  they  clearly 
fall  within  the  category  of  what  Sheridan  declared  to  be  the  extreme 
of  folly.  One  may  run  his  head  against  a  wall  by  accident,  but  this 
is  the  building  a  wall  for  the  express  purpose  of  running  one's  head 
against  it. 

As  this  delusion  does,  however,  unfortunately  exist  amongst  us,  as 
it  must,  to  some  extent,  mar  the  happiness  and  impair  the  prosperity 
of  the  Republic,  it  becomes  a  high  and  imperative  duty,  worthy  of 
any  statesman's  study,  to  discover  how  it  may  be  corrected  and  dis- 
pelled.    More  can   be  done,   however,  by  the  wealthy  themselves, 
than  by  all  others,  in  this  patriotic  work  ;  for  they  are  not  a  little  in 
fault.     The  people  of  this  country  will  tolerate  any  honest  use  of 
riches.     There  is  a  deep  feeling  with  the  mass,  that  a  man  may  da 
as  he  pleases  with  his   own,  and  they  rarely  speak  of  extravagance 
and  ostentation  in  any  other  terms  than  those  of  commiseration  j 
but  they  will  not  tolerate,  in  foreigner  or  native,  the  lordly  patronising 
and  condescending  airs  of  asserted  superiority.     They  are  fond  of 
giving  and  receiving  titles,  but  they  will  not  endure  haughty  deport- 
ment.    And  this  is  the  glaring  fault  in  the  manners  of  wealthy  fami- 
lies.   We  have  no  aristocracy,  indeed ;  but  we  have  a  class  amongst  us 
who  ape  the  airs,  and  set  up  the  pretensions  of  all  the  Howards,  and 
who  may  be,  in   fact,  as  offensive   and  injurious  as  the  haughtiest 
nobility  that  ever  existed.     It  is  said  by  keen  observers,  more  of  this 
assumed  superiority  and  exclusiveness  is  to  be  found  here  than  in  any 
society  in  Europe.    A  parvenue  can  be  easily  distinguished  even  there, 
by  the  extreme  carefulness  of  his  new  dignity;  and  here  our  would- 
be  nobles  are  all  parvenues.     One  who  has  suddenly  acquired  con- 
siderable wealth  is  uneasy  and  jealous  of  offence,  very  careful  not  tc 
soil  his  robes  by  too  much  familiarity  with  the  multitude,  and  he  may 
go  to  the  extent  of  cutting  his  old  acquaintance?,  who  have  been  less 
fortunate  than  himself,  and  heeds  not  that  a  cut  of  this  description^ 
leaves  a  deeper  and  keener  wound  than  the  sabre  of  Saladin,  or  the" 
poisoned  arrow  of  the  Parthian.     1  can  conceive  how  an  hereditary 
noble,  who  bears  a  name  of  historic  renown,  whose  halls  are  hoary 
with  ancestral  glories,  who  is  "  native  and  to  the  manor  born,"  should 
inspire  a  feeling  of  loyalty  and  love  among  the  tenantry  of  bis  estate, 
or  even  the  inhabitants  of  a  kingdom;  and  I  can  conceive  as  easily, 
how  one,  who  has  mingled  with  his  fellows  in  the  dusty  conflicts  and 
remorseless  rival  ries  of  business,  and  risen  to  affluence,  should  inspire, 
not  disgust  merely,  but  deep,  relentless  hate,  when  he  assumes  rank 
and  state,  and  tells  his  old  associates,  by  his  deportment,  that  he  be- 
longs to  a  higher  order  of  beings.     It  is  a  common  remark,   that 
there  is  scarcely  a  family  that  can  trace  their  lineage  back  for  three 
generations,  without  running  against  a  lapstone  or  an  anvil,  or  a  work 


10 

bench  ;  and  to  see  them  affecting  aristocracy,  is  a  pitiable  exhibifiofl 
of  the  weakness  of  poor  human  nature.  The  doctrine,  which  hag 
been  preached  by  some,  of  social  equahty,  is  a  day  dream,  that  can 
never  be  reahzed  ;  but  that  the  weaUhier  classes  can  learn  and  prac- 
tice those  amenities  of  social  intercourse,  those  liberal  hospitalities 
that  naturally  spring  from  true  nobleness  of  mind,  and  thereby  re- 
move this  source  of  domestic  dissension,  this  rock  of  offence,  is 
certain. 

Nor  let  it  be  imagined  that  this  subject  of  manners  is  one  of  little 
importance,  or  the  discussion  of  it  unsuited  to  the  most  important 
occasion.  A  great  political  philosopher  has  remarked,  that  manners 
are  more  important  in  a  republic  than  laws,  for  they  exert  an  hourly 
and  all-pervading  influence  upon  universal  society.  Insult  is  m  re 
keenly  resented  than  injury.  'I'he  pride  of  nobility  is  more  difficult 
to  tolerate  than  all  the  exclusive  advantages  which  they  possess. 
"Numerous  and  serious  as  the  grievances  of  the  French  nation  were," 
says  the  ablest  of  the  royalist  writers,  "it  was  not  they  alone  that 
occasioned  the  Revolution.  Neither  the  taxes,  nor  the  letters  de  cachet, 
nor  the  other  abuses  of  authority,  nor  the  vexations  of  the  prefects,  nor 
the  ruinous  delays  ofjustice,  have  irritated  the  nation  ;  it  is  ihe prestige 
of  nobility  which  has  excited  all  the  ferment."  It  converted  a  nation 
of  gentlemen  and  cavaliers  into  a  nation  of  assassins,  and  her  sunny 
fields  into  a  vast  aceldama.  The  insolence  of  the  privileged  orders 
gave  a  character  of  ferocity  to  the  prolonged  and  fearful  conflict 
which  ensued,  that  has  never  been  paralleled  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  And  a  far-sighted  philosopher,  seeing  the  spirit  which  existed 
among  the  people,  might  years  before  have  uttered  the  startling  pre- 
diction, which  sprang  from  the  lips  of  Antony; 

"  This  spirit,  raging  for  revenge, 

With  Ate,  by  its  side,  came  hot  from  hell. 
Shall,  in  these  confines,  with  a  monarch's  voice, 
Cry  havoc — and  let  slip  the  dogs  of  war." 

Much,  very  much,  can  be  done  to  remedy  this  unhappy  state  of 
things  by  the  labouring  classes  also  ;  and  had  I  the  action  and  utter- 
ance,  words  and  worth,  I  would  exhort  them,  for  their  own  sakes,  by 
the  consideration  of  the  immense  benefits  they  will  reap  by  uniting 
their  encf-gies  and  their  numbers  to  those  of  capitalists,  which  more 
than  doubles  their  powers,  to  let  nothing  be  wanting  on  their 
part  to  harmony  of  thought  and  action.  What  might  not  be  accom- 
plished by  a  cf)rdial  union  between  them  in  enterprises  of  great  pith 
and  moment?  Those  who  prefer  to  be  their  champions  and  friends 
are  the  assailants,  and  the  rich  are  compelled  to  stand  upon  the  defen- 
sive; and  they  cannot  fail  to  look  with  an  evil  eye  upon  those  who 
make  them  the  objects  of  vindictive  and  incessant  attack.  Let  them 
disdain  the  counsels  of  these  false  friends,  until  they  can  show  some 
real  grievance.  Let  them  scout  this  misplaced  clamour  about  the 
poor  and  the  rich ;  it  belongs  not  to  our  country.  They  are  too  ready 
to  take  offence :  prone  to  construe  mere  inadvertence  "  the  malady. 


17 

'^  not  marking,"  into  premeditated  insult.  It  is  not  wise  to  employ  a 
microscope  at  our  tables,  to  examine  even  the  purest  of  elements ;  it 
iS  more  foolish  still  to  employ  a  mental  microscope  in  our  social  inter- 
course. Jf  they  exact  courtesy  from  others,  they  must  be  ready  to 
repay  it  in  kind.  The  law  of  true  civility  is  a  law  of  reciprocity. 
If,  instead  of  expending  so  much  time  and  energy  in  mutual  quarrels, 
they  would  join  heart  and  hand  in  all  great  and  good  undertakings,  the 
one  contributing  means,  the  other  the  skill  and  labour,  they  would 
accomplish  more  for  themselves  and  their  country  in  one  year  ihan  by 
fifty  years  of  dissention.  And  this  result  can  be  effected  by  the  ob- 
servance of  that  simple  precept,  which,  as  a  regulator  of  social  inter- 
course, may  well  be  denominated  the  golden  rule : 

"  Be  to  their  faults  a  little  blind, 
Be  to  their  virtues  very  kind." 

We  should  not  forget  that  there  are  those  who  grace  and  gladden 
our  festivities  by  their  presence — who  do  not  mingle  with  us,  indeed, 
in  the  walks  of  business,  but  who  exert  a  more  potent  influence  upon 
the  affairs  of  moo  than  we  are  always  willing  to  acknowledge — whose 
empire  is  absolute  over  the  world  of  fashion — whose  appearance  in 
the  midst  of  dissenlions  is  like  the  radiant  bow  that  spans  the  storm. 
If  their  smiles  do  sometimes  kindle  dissentiun,  they  oftener  allay  it; 
and  I  would  invoke  their  gentle  influence  in  ihe  work  of  reforming  the 
national  manners.  If  they  would  bestow  more  of  their  kind  regards 
upon  those  athletic  and  manly  forms,  that  make  our  hill-sides  and 
valleys  laugh  and  ring  with  the  wealth  of  golden  harvests,  and  less 
upon  those  whiskered  and  bedizened  apes  that  infest  the  drawing- 
room,  we  should  love  them  better,  and  our  country  would  indeed 
regard  them  as  her  jewels. 

There  is  one  duty  more,  of  the  highest  importance,  to  which,  in 
conclusion,  I  invite  your  attention — the  duty  of  holding  in  just  esteem 
all  the  occupations  in  which  men  are  engaged.  It  is  to  be  feared  that 
there  is  no  subject  upon  which  stronger  prejudices  or  more  erroneous 
opinions  prevail.  Every  man  is  inclined  to  overrate  the  labour,  the 
usefulness,  and  the  importance  of  his  own  vocation,  and  think  either 
contemptuously  or  enviously  of  others.  The  toil-worn  artisan,  who 
wins  his  bread  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  is  apt  to  regard  the  mer- 
chant, who  never  soils  his  hands  with  mechanical  labour,  and  yet  fares 
sumptuously  every  day,  as  one  who  fraudulently  diminishes  the 
amount  of  his  own  compensation — as  a  privileged  drone — a  cumberer 
of  the  ground  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  some  look  down  upon  the  sons 
of  toil  with  contempt. 

The  almost  infinite  variety  of  human  employments  is  a  result  and  an 
evidence  of  high  civilization,  and  contributes  more  than  anything  to 
the  amount  of  human  enjoyment.  Nothing  can  be  more  unjust, 
illiberal,  and  narrow,  than  such  prejudices.  If  we  had  time  to  insti- 
tute a  comparison  between  the  difterent  occupations  to  which  men 
devote  themselves,  it  would  be  easy  to  show  how  little  there  is  in  any 


18 

man's  condition  to  envy — to  show  how  the  progress  of  mankind  irt 
virtue,  intelligence,  art  and  happiness  is  accelerated — what  vast 
treasures,  of  countless  diversity,  are  added  to  the  stock  of  man's  com- 
forts, by  this  voluntary,  natural,  self-adjusting  division  of  labour. 
What  honest  vocation  can  be  named,  that  does  not  contribute,  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  to  the  enjoyment  of  man  1  It  may  be  humble, 
indeed,  but  it  goes  to  swell  the  mighty  aggregate;  it  may  be  the  rill 
that  trickles  from  the  mountain  side,  but  it  diffuses  fertility  through 
the  valley,  and  mingles  its  drops  at  last  with  the  ocean.  The  true 
American  motto  is  and  must  be— marked  upon  our  foreheads,  written 
upon  (»ur  door-posts — channelled  in  the  earth,  and  wafted  upon  the 
waves — Industry — Labour  is  Honourable,  and  idleness  is  dishon- 
ourable— and  I  care  not,  if  it  be  labour,  whether  it  be  of  the  head  or 
the  hands. 

Away  with  the  miserable  jargon  of  the  political  economists,  who 
write  su  complacently  about  the  producing  and  non-producing  classes. 
It  has  no  foundation  in  nature  or  in  experience.  Whitney,  whose 
cotton-gin  doubled  the  value  of  every  acre  of  land  in  the  south,  raised 
more  cotton  with  his  head  than  any  other  man  ever  raised  with  his 
hands.  The  intellectual  and  manual  operatives  are  alike  useful  and 
indispensable  to  each  other,  and  they  should  entertain  for  each  other 
the  kindliest  sentiments.  If  the  one  conceives,  the  other  executes. 
The  one  invents  and  discovers,  the  other  uses  the  invention  or  dis- 
covery. It  is  a  law  of  our  condition  upon  earth,  that  there  ever  shall 
be  differences  of  tastes,  of  skill  and  strength  ;  and  no  fabric  that  ever 
came  from  the  loom  was  more  beautifully  interlaced  and  compacted, 
than  the  numerous  fibres  that  make  up  the  mighty  fabric  of  human 
society.  Our  condition  is  one  of  eternal  mutual  dependence  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave;  and  the  man  of  millions  can  do  nothing  for 
his  own  exclusive  pleasure  without  the  aid  of  others.  He  cannot 
purchase  an  article  for  his  household  ;  he  cannot  adorn  his  grounds 
or  his  mansion  ;  he  cannot  ride,  walk,  eat,  or  even  sleep,  without  ex- 
pending a  portion  of  his  wealth  amongst  artisans  and  labourers.  He 
is,  alone,  a  despicable  character,  who  hoards  his  treasures  in  secret, 
and  whose  study  is  to  see  how  much  he  can  possess,  and  how  little 
he  can  expend. 

Let  me  exhort  those  of  you  who  are  devoted  to  intellectual  pursuits, 
to  cherish,  on  your  part,  an  exalted  and  a  just  idea  of  the  dignity  and 
value  of  manual  labour,  and  to  make  that  opinion  known  in  your 
works,  and  seen  in  the  earnestness  of  your  actions.  The  labouring 
men  of  this  country  are  vast  in  number  and  respectable  in  character. 
We  owe  to  them,  under  Providence,  the  most  gladsome  spectacle  the 
sun  beholds  in  its  course — a  land  of  cultivated  and  fertile  fields  an 
ocean  white  with  canvass.  We  owe  to  them  the  annual  spectacle  of 
golden  harvests,  which  carries  plenty  and  happiness  alike  to  the  palace 
and  the  cottage.  We  owe  to  them  the  fortresses  that  guard  our 
coasts — the  ships  that  have  borne  our  flag  to  every  clime,  and  carried 
the  thunder  of  our  cannon  triumphant  over  the  waters  of  the  deep. 


19 

They  have  turned  a  river  from  its  course,  and  poured  its  welconnd 
waters  into  this  great  metropolis  ;  and  your  entire  population  came 
forth,  but  a  day  or  two  since,  in  long  procession,  with  every  demon- 
stration of  joy,  to  celebrate  this  memorable  triumph. 

That  demon  steed,  which  leaps  the  valley  and  dashes  through  the 
mountain,  pursues  his  fleet  career  over  roads  which  they  have  con- 
structed. The  vast  city  which  surrounds  us,  with  its  sparkling 
jets  and  gushing  fountains,  the  august  temple  in  which  we  stand,  are 
the  works  of  their  hands;  and  when  I  look  upon  these  gigantic 
achievements,  I  say,  honour  to  the  labourer !  We  laud  and  magnify 
the  hero  who  has  stormed  a  city  and  driven  the  ploughshare  of  ruin 
over  its  habitations:  let  us  here  laud  and  magnify  the  heroes  of  our 
country,  who  have  made  the  wilderness  blossom  like  the  rose,  and 
the  solitary  place  glad  with  the  fires  of  a  thousand  happy  homes. 

And  let  them,  on  their  part,  not  forget,  that  they  owe  one  thing  to 
the  heads  which  conceived  and  planned,  and  to  the  capitalists  who 
furnished  the  means  to  execute  these  great  undertakings.  1  beseech 
them  to  banish  for  ever  from  their  thoughts  prejudice  and  jealousy  of 
men  engaged  in  any  honest  vocation,  and  hold  vice  and  idleness  alone 
in  deserved  scorn.  Let  them  treat  the  evil  spirits  who  would  array 
them  against  what  they  call  the  non-producers,  as  all  evil  counsellors 
deserve  to  be  treated.  The  village  school-master,  who  devotes  the 
years  of  his  youth  or  his  manhood  to  the  exhausting  drudgery  of  in- 
struction— who  moulds  the  character  and  fixes  the  principles  of  an 
advancing  generation,  is  as  eminently  useful,  though  he  sink  at  last 
into  the  grave  unhonoured  and  unsung,  as  the  demagogue  whose 
presence  is  greeted  in  caucuses,  or  whose  voice  is  heard  in  the  halls 
of  legislation,  discussing  the  constitutional  power  of  Congress  to  buy 
a  penknife. 

The  physician,  who  in  some  far  and  sequestered  retreat,  treading 
ambition  beneath  his  feet,  devotes  his  life  to  relieve  the  pains  of  the 
rich  and  sooth  the  anguish  of  the  dying,  is  entitled  to  the  regard  of  all 
good  men.  The  lawyer,  who  stands  forth,  often  alone,  but  never 
dismayed,  the  champion  of  the  weak  against  the  strong,  who  knows, 
in  combatting  for  the  right,  no  distinction  between  rich  and  poor — who 
is  above  the  miserable  trickery  of  the  tricksters  of  the  profession — who 
feels,  when  he  enters  the  temple  of  justice,  that  the  robe  of  a  solemn 
ministry  is  upon  him,  is  an  eminently  useful  labourer,  and  may  rank 
with  any  man  in  good  service  to  his  country.  The  ministers  of  our 
holy  religion,  whose  first  act  is  a  voluntary  renouncement  of  much 
that  the  world  holds  dear ;  who,  for  a  scanty  support,  labour  on  to 
their  lives'  end,  amid  discouragement  and  reproach,  in  training  im- 
mortals for  the  skies,  on  bidding  farewell  to  the  delights  of  home  and 
the  securities  of  law,  journey,  by  land  and  sea,  to  the  savajjo  island, 
the  inhospitable  climate,  the  idolatrous  city,  and  lift  up  their  fearless 
voices  amidst  unsheathed  daggers  and  glaring  eye-balls,  verily  they 
have  their  reward  hereafter.  But  why  should  I  multiply  illustra- 
tions, that  crowd  upon  me  as  I  advance,  as  numerous  and  endless  as 


/'(cifiin^ 


20 

the  objects  of  human  pursuits?  The  welfare  of  society,  the  laws  of 
our  being,  demand  an  infinite  diversity  of  occupation ;  they  require,  in 
the  vast  drama  of  life,  anassignment  of  his  proper  part  to  every  human 
being;  and  mankind,  ever  acknowledging  this  supreme  law,  have, 
with  one  accord,  responded  to  the  familiar  but  lofiy  sentiment  of  the 
great  poet : 

"  Honour  and  shame  from  no  condition  rise; 
Act  well  your  part,  there  all  the  honour  lies." 


